My strength lies in Test cricket Says Ishant Sharma

St.John’s (Antigua), July 12 (CRICKETNMORE): Indian speedster Ishant Sharma who is gearing up for the upcoming Test series against the West Indies believes the five-day cricket is his strength.

Ishant is the most-experienced fast bowler that India have in their 17-member Test squad captained by ace batsman Virat Kohli. However, Ishant has struggled to find a place in the shorter formats.

"You have to be honest with yourself, that's the most important thing. If you are being honest with yourself it's easy to accept things. I know that I didn't do well in the shorter formats of the game, so I accepted it," Ishant was quoted as saying by bcci.tv on Tuesday.

"But I am doing well in Test cricket so I know what my strength is." 

The lanky pacer also said switching from one format to the other in a short span of time has made life more difficult for bowlers.

"If you are playing all formats of the game, it's very difficult to think what's going wrong for you and what's going right for you," he said.

"It's very difficult as you have (a) very short time to understand all these things. I know I didn't do well in T20s. I think everybody has their strengths. I always believe in that, and there is no harm to accept that thing."

The last time Ishant was here in 2011 he bagged a total of 22 wickets from three Tests. He said he is sharing his experience with the other youngsters in the team but insisted there was a need of two-way communication between them.

"I am sharing my experiences and hoping that what worked for me also works for them," he said.

"But then they have to also identify their areas of strength because everybody has their own strengths. Bhuvi's (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) strength is swing but he can't extract the bounce like I can do. Similarly, I can't get the ball to swing like him."

The 27-year-old added even though the pitches are lifeless he would go flat out everytime he would have the leather in his hands. 

"You have to work hard enough even if conditions are not favourable," he said. "It is easy to give up and say there's nothing in the wicket so spinners will do the job and we (pacers) will only try to hit the areas. 

"But you should back yourself and go flat out. I like to go flat out whether it is my second or third spell. If I am playing I give my 100%. That makes me a different bowler.

"The conditions are very challenging. It's pretty hot out there, so you need to look after yourself properly. And obviously the time difference, it's totally a different time zone and you need to be mindful of that as well, especially when you are playing four Test matches."

Agency.